The conventional method of printing and binding books involves the use of offset printing followed by one of several conventional binding methods. In offset printing, negatives are conventionally made from page proofs, for example, with an offset camera. The negatives are then stripped into a predetermined layout and an offset plate is made from the negatives.
The plate is mounted on an offset press. The offset press is utilized to print a desired quantity of pages. Each sheet, containing 32 pages in most instances, is then folded in a conventional manner and bound.
Preliminary preparation and set-up time necessary to using this conventional method of printing and binding books is quite high, resulting in an unacceptably high unit cost to produce a small quantity of books; i.e., a run of less than one thousand (1,000) books. Accordingly, it is virtually impossible for publishers or authors to publish certain technical books which are desired in relatively small numbers. Furthermore, the so-called "vanity" printing business is virtually non-existent in the United States because authors who desire to publish a limited number of copies of their own works, with the author paying the printing and binding costs, cannot afford the high costs inherent in conventional methods.